Both fighters and bombers improved their range and capacities to carry more. Overall, the period between the wars saw aircraft go from slow, rickety wooden boxes to sleek, metallic speedsters capable of performing integral military operations.
Nothing best defines the advancements made in aircraft design and capabilities that the Hawker company. Beginning shortly after the First World War, Hawker continually and steadily improved his designs making faster and better aircraft. With designs like the Hawker Fury (1931), the company continually modified it's fighter into new designs like the Hind (1934) and the Hurricane (1935). (Angelucci 1983) by the start of World War II, the Hurricane was Britain's frontline fighter and was powered by the famous Rolls Royce Merlin 12 cylinder liquid cooled engine. This engine could produce over 1000 hp and allowed the aircraft to reach speeds of more than 300 mph. While the cruising speed was lower, the Merlin engine would continually be improved until by 1939 the Merlin III was being used. Eventually the Merlin would have up to twenty variants. Using this Merlin XX 1185 hp engine, the Hurricane MK II could reach speeds of 340 mph, had a top ceiling of 36,000 ft, and was armed with four 20mm cannons. (Sharp 1999) This was a considerable amount of firepower as most fighters of the day were armed with smaller machine guns and the 20mm cannon allowed for a greater range when hitting targets. More than 14,000 Hurricanes were produced and they served in all theaters. The Hurricane shot down more enemy aircraft than any other British plane during the war, and even though they were surpassed by other aircraft like the Spitfire, they remained in service until the end of the war. Hawker's designs eventually culminated in the Hawker Tempest MK V, which possessed a single Napier Sabre engine capable of more than 2,100 hp, could reach speeds of more than 430 mph had a range of over 740 miles, and could reach a height of 36,500 ft. (Angelucci 1983)
Like fighter aircraft, by the time World War II started the development of bombers had rapidly advanced. This can be demonstrated by the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. World War I had taught military theorists that long-range bombing of the enemy's homeland could be an effective means of waging war. Destroying the enemy's means of production, transportation, and communication could disrupt the enemy's war effort. The British meant to do this through large scale bombing raids using heavy bombers. These aircraft had to be large enough to carry enough of a bomb load to cause significant damage, they needed a long enough range to reach the enemy's homeland, and they had to be armed enough to protect themselves against enemy fighter planes. All these capabilities emerged in the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber which had four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines with 1460 hp each, could carry 22,000 lbs of bombs over 1660 miles at a speed of 285 mph. it's crew of 7 was armed with 10-.303 machine guns making it one of the most heavily armed in the British arsenal.(Donald 1998) However, these propeller driven aircraft were beginning to...
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